Metro train stalls again, commuters stuck

New Delhi, Nov 21 : Delhi Metro's Dwarka to Noida line went haywire Saturday morning till noon. Hundreds of passengers where stuck when power supply failed. Consequently after long delays many commuters waiting on platforms took a refund on their tickets and opted for other means of transport.

In the second incident of its kind in two weeks, a Metro train on the Noida Line stalled and stopped en route to Dwarka when a technical snag snapped the power supply.

"Metro services on line 3 (Dwarka Sector 9 to Noida City Centre) were affected after a train stalled when its pantographs, which draw power from the overhead electrification line developed defects," Delhi Metro Spokesperson Anuj Dayal said.

The incident occurred at 9.18 a.m. when the train entered Uttam Nagar East Metro station with around 250 passengers on board. The passengers were finally asked to get off there.

Soon after, single line services were started between Janakpuri West and Dwarka and metro staff began rescue operations, the official said.

The stalled train was pushed by a rescue train to the Najafgarh depot and normal services restarted at around noon, Dayal informed.

However the delay of over 30 minutes caught people unawares, leading to snaking queues at stations.

Tired of waiting, a number of commuters sought refund of their metro tokens and used other conveyance for their onward journey.

Rajan Sharma, one of the commuters, said: "I always take the Metro from Dwarka to Yamuna Bank, but this morning when I reached the Dwarka Sector-9 station, I was shocked to see the crowd. A few people told me that the Metro was not running for at least 20 minutes."

"I was already getting late for work and I couldn't afford to just keep waiting. There was no announcement and no one could tell us how long the delay would be for. So I decided to get my token refunded and took the bus instead," he said.

Ashutosh Sinha, a student taking the Metro from Yamuna Bank to Rajiv Chowk which falls on the same route, said he had to wait for at least 15 minutes for the Metro.

Delhi Metro said that the stalling could have been a result of some foreign object entangled in the overhead power line. As a result six round trips of trains were cancelled and just eight trains were involved on single line operations. Other trains were looped on shorter routes on the same line.